Illegal border crossings into Manitoba on the rise

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Illegal border crossings into Manitoba are on the rise, and it’s something the mayor of one border community says residents are starting to witness with their own eyes.

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In an Oct. 10 press release, RCMP announced that illegal border crossings were up approximately 14% in Manitoba, as to-date in 2024, there had been 85 apprehensions of “illegal northbound crossers,” while there were a total of 75 apprehensions of illegal crossers into Manitoba in all of 2023.

Originating countries of those apprehended include the Republic of Chad, the Republic of Sudan, Guinea, Iraq, Mauritania, Congo, Yemen, Somalia, Saint Helena, Eretria, Cuba, Morocco, Mali, and Brazil, RCMP added.

Dave Carlson, the Reeve of Emerson-Franklin, home to the Pembina–Emerson Border Crossing, said that in recent weeks officials in the RM have been receiving an increasing amount of calls about migrant sightings and people attempting to cross into Canada illegally in the RM.

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“There has been a notable increase in migrant sightings, and it’s happening over an increasingly wider swath of area,” Carlson said. He wasn’t surprised to hear that illegal border crossings are on the rise in Manitoba.

According to Carlson, the Emerson-Franklin area saw a large surge in migrant crossings in 2017 and 2018, for several reasons related mostly to American politics, including Donald Trump being elected U.S President in 2016.

He said the number of sightings they have been hearing about recently lead him to believe the numbers may be going back to those 2017 and 2018 levels, and will likely increase even more after next week’s U.S. election.

There is concern in the community about what pressure an increase in asylum seekers could put on local emergency services and service providers, according to Carlson.

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Another concern is that of desperate migrants stumbling onto local doorsteps at all hours. Unexpected knocks on the door have become more common in recent years with an increase in migrant crossings, especially in winter months.

It can be unnerving for residents, because they often happen very late at night or early in the morning when they’re asleep and it’s dark out.

“No matter what people get scared, it’s always disturbing because you don’t know who’s at the door, and no one likes a knock at the door in the middle of the night,” Carlson said. “It’s scary; it can be very scary for people especially when there are children or seniors in the home.”

In their Oct. 10 media release, RCMP said they are working to curb illegal immigration into Manitoba. They also added that it continues to be a challenge, and they’re becoming increasingly concerned about the number of human smuggling operations they’re discovering.

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“More and more, law enforcement is seeing smuggling organizations working to get the migrants across the border without detection. Human smuggling is a real concern,” said Sergeant Lance Goldau, the head of Manitoba RCMP’s Integrated Border Enforcement Team (IBET).

“These smugglers are not in the business because they care about the migrants. The smugglers are looking at the bottom line; getting as much money as they can with as little work as possible.”

Smuggler operations often lead to migrants crossing at increasingly remote areas, and often in dangerous terrain and conditions, Goldau added.

“The ethos of the least amount of work possible leads many migrants to have to face the actual border crossing alone,” said Goldau.

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“They are dropped at a location far from a Port of Entry into Canada, and are left to fend for themselves with vague directions to connect with someone waiting for them on the other side, creating major safety concerns.”

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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